Originally published by Men’s Health
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DON’T BE FOOLEDby the signature scowl that Karl Urban wears inThe BoysandMortal Kombat IIand…well, any number of projects in his vast filmography. Urban is, in fact, having a great time. After all, few actors can say they’ve strode through Middle-earth (in theLord of the Ringstrilogy), stormed Asgard (inThor: Ragnarok), and boldly gone where no man has gone before (in the most recentStar Trekmovies). Since the 53-year-old New Zealander first launched his career in 1996 as a recurring player inXena: Warrior Princess, he’s appeared in every corner of the vast “genre” universe in film and television. And every time, his familiar face and unique mix of gruffness and winking irreverence has signaled to audiences in the know that things are about to get fun.
So when Urban was cast as Billy Butcher inThe Boys, adapted by showrunner Eric Kripke fromthe popular Garth Ennis comics, it was like he’d been developed in the lab of a mad genius specially for the role. Butcher leads a gang of misfits dedicated to fighting against super-powered “heroes” in a world that adores them at its own peril. Clad in a black duster and hurling the C-word like bullets off an infinite bandolier, Butcher is the hardened heart of the show, a cynic who surrounds himself with close-knit comrades he secretly hopes will act as his better angels. The show is often a dark reflection of the real world in how it satirizes corrupt corporations, narcissistic demagogues, and toxic celebrity culture. It’s also really, really fun to watch. Kripke and co. have created a show so twisted and shocking and gory that audiences finally have something to point to, laugh at, and say: “Well, at least things aren’tthatbad!”
It’s no surprise, then, that when Urban was cast as Johnny Cage inMortal Kombat II, a sequel to the 2021 adaptation of the famously gruesome video game series, fans were overjoyed. As Cage, Urban gets to poke fun at his own industry as a washed-up B-movie actor. “I’d often appreciated and admired it when I’d seen other actors get the opportunity to do it,” Urban says, “like Leonardo DiCaprio in Tarantino’sOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood…, one of my all-time favorites that, in a reverential sort of way, takes the piss out of everything.” Tapped to fight in an interdimensional tournament at a point in his life where he can barely survive a pratfall, Cage is the perfect addition to Urban’s roster of flawed heroes and charming villains.
AsMortal Kombat IIhits theaters this weekend andThe Boyscloses in onits final two episodes of the series, we talked to Urban about his rollercoaster of a career and how he’s survived it with a smile—okay, maybe more like a smirk—on his face.
MEN’S HEALTH: The originalMortal Kombatmovie that came out in 1995 was a huge box office hit, and while critics didn’t love it at the time, it became a cult classic and has since gotten a critical reevaluation. Then thenewMortal Kombatcame out during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and became a runaway streaming hit. What do you think is the secret to this franchise’s longevity?
KARL URBAN:These games have been around for 30 years, so multiple generations—fathers and sons, mothers and daughters—have played them together. So the fan base has kept growing exponentially.
MH: I’ve read that you’ve played it with your sons.
KU:And it was a humiliating experience. They kicked my ass. That was my introduction toMortal Kombat.
MH: Have you gotten any better?
KU:I have to admit, I’m a button basher. When I find one move that works, I will keep doing that until my opponent figures out how to counter it.
MH: I do the same thing. I’m not proud of it, but I sweep the leg.
KU:That’s the one! Keep sweeping the leg! And my boys are like, “What are you doing! Will you stop doing that?” It frustrates them because I’m just doing the same dumb move over and over again.
MH: In the games, Johnny Cage often serves as comic relief. And on screen, you often have to play the action and comedy simultaneously. How did you land the physical comedy while also nailing the technical aspect of the fight scenes?
KU:You’re right, it’s a fine balance. You can’t veer off too much into comedy because then you undermine the more serious physicality of the character. So, the key is to make sure you ground it in the reality of the moment. Don’t push to find those laughs; have them come organically out of the situation.
MH: There’s a fight scene that takes place within one of Johnny’s B-movies that’s particularly campy. How did you approach that one?
KU:We had the benefit of an incredible stunt team. I really deferred to their knowledge—not only of the martial arts in the game, but the history of martial arts moves and choreography in general. I took their lead all the way on the action. But certainly tonally, you dial the extravagance and the preposterousness when you’re playing a movie within a movie, especially for a character like Johnny Cage. We wanted to tell the story of a failed actor, and when you see the movie-within-a-movie, you think,Oh, I see why this guy’s career failed.
MH: The first time we see Johnny start to hold his own in a real fight is when Baraka, a gruesome mutant fighter, challenges him to one-on-one combat. Much of the rest of the cast are standing by watching. Normally when you’re all in a fight scene together, everyone is busy with their own choreography, but here, all their eyes are just on you. Did that ramp up the pressure to perform?
KU:That was one of the first sequences we shot early on in filming. To have the cast of the first movie standing around, watching me fight… it made me push myself a little harder, I’ll say that. I’m stepping into a cast with some formidable fight experience.Ludi Lin [who plays Liu Kang] is a great martial artist, as areLewis Tan[who plays Cole Young] and Max Huang [who plays Kung Lao] andJoe Taslim[who plays both Sub-Zero and Noob Saibot] and the others. These guys are very proficient. For me, the challenge was to upgrade my skill set as best I could, as quickly as I could. It was, hands down, the most challenging undertaking I’ve ever embarked on for a film.
MH: How did you train for the role?
KU:I trained for three to four months, most days, in the gym, doing weights and cardio, but also going into martial arts sessions with my teacher. They took me back to basics. I had to learn fundamentals of movement, of agility, of coordination. We were doing the same speed drills I’ve seenNovak Djokovicdoing when he’s warming up for a tennis match. It was intense. And then when I landed in the Gold Coast, where we shot the film, they literally took me straight from the airport to a stunt session. Time was that precious and the learning curve was that steep.
MH: I’ve talked toactors in fight-heavy projectswho’ve said that training, especially under a time crunch, can lead to injuries. What do you do to avoid that?
KU:I was in good hands. No injuries, no setbacks, thankfully. When you do any sort of fight scene in a film, you get banged about a bit. I once got an injury just walking down the hill to a film set. I’m serious! And it was for a major action film—I won’t say which one, because it was a bad movie. [Laughs] But that’s why it’s important that at any juncture, you keep yourself in really good condition. You have to look after yourself. You have to stay fit and balance that out with proper nutrition and proper supplements to keep feeding your muscles. Otherwise, you might go down during a $90 million production that’s depending on you to turn up, and you’re not able to do shit. It’s not a responsibility I take lightly.
MH: Antony Starr got to be rendered into aMortal Kombatgame as Homelander. Are you going to let him be the only one fromThe Boysto cross over, especially now that you’re part of both franchises?
KU:You know, that decision is not mine to make, but I would certainly welcome the introduction of Billy Butcher into the world ofMortal Kombat. I would love to see players play Butcher against HomelanderandI’d love to see Butcher against Johnny Cage. Is that greedy? [Laughs]
MH:Going back through your career, I’m struck by howfunit looks. You’ve hopped genres, been in so many big franchises, and played in a lot of very different sandboxes. What has it taught you?
KU:That I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t still having fun. OnThe Boys, for example, we shoot a minimum of 16 hours a day. You’re exhausted at the end of the day, and you’re taking time away from your family, from your life. So you have to have fun doing it and you have to care about what you’re doing. It has to tick those boxes. I think back to reading Viktor Frankl’sMan’s Search for Meaning. We all need a reason to get up in the morning, a reason to live, you know? We have to have those activities that we invest our time and energy into that give us a sense of purpose and that motivate us to go forward.
MH: What’s the secret to having a career like that?
KU:An incredible amount of it that is actually out of your hands. I’ve been fortunate in the regard that I’ve worked with some truly incredible people, directors who are the best in the business. I’ve gotten to shoot in exotic locations. I’ve gotten to live the dream. Movie-making doesn’t get any bigger than, say,Lord of the Rings. But I guess it’s something I never take too much time to contemplate. I’m very much more in the mindset of looking forward to what’s on the horizon, what’s next. I’m having a particular sort of zenith at the moment, withThe Boyson television andMortal Kombat IIin theaters. It’s a great moment, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. But it’s not like I’m looking back through my credits every day. But when Idoget a chance to look back—wow, it’s been a hell of a ride.
MH: You’ve starred in a lot of projects with existing, passionate fan bases—fromThe Lord of the RingstoStar TrektoThortoThe BoystoMortal Kombat. How have you learned to navigate the pressure that comes with that?
KU:Without a doubt, there’s an inherent pressure that comes with well-known IP. There’s the necessity to get it right. You have to invest as much time and energy as you have into developing the characters and story in a way that’s respectful to their heritage. But you also have to make sure you find fresh territory to mine so that you’re not just delivering a completely derivative product. It has to be creatively interesting to you. It has to be something that allows you to bring some essence of yourself into the mold. You can have even the most ardent fan of the IP still fuck it up by being too reverential. At the end of the day, you have to make films for fans offilm. I mean, if it’s just some vacuous mash-up of special effects, then the audience is going to lose interest pretty quickly.
MH: I thinkThe Boysis a great example of that. So much has been changed from the source material—some has been cut, a lot has been expanded, and it all feels fresh and timely. When you first embarked on making the show, did you have an understanding of how it was going to hit?
KU:No, I did not. I remember seeing the title,The Boys, and I thought,Oh, that’s a catchy title!And then I read the synopsis, and I thought,Oh, hang on. This is interesting… This is taking a well-known genre, the superhero genre, and doing something different with it—satirizing superhero movies, celebrity culture, politics, commenting on the elements of those worlds that are important and concerning, but then also having irreverent and gory fun. It was an interesting mix. But when you go into any project, it’s always a leap of faith. You hope it connects, but a project can get tripped up at so many different junctures. Somehow, we made the show at the right time with the right people in the right medium.
MH: Looking back on the series as it comes to an end, what stands out from the experience?
KU:So many things. First and foremost would be that cast and that crew. You know, when you’re working with a group of people for eight years, you can’t help but develop incredibly close bonds. They’re like family now. For me personally, that’s the most important legacy of the show.
Secondly would be the collaborative experience of working with Eric Kripke, who plays by the rule “best idea wins,” and in doing so, he engages his cast and also his crew. Often the best idea is going to come from the guy holding the C-stand or the lighting grip or the cameraman or the continuity supervisor. I mean, it’s amazing. The set is so open to experimentation, nobody is particularly precious, and it doesn’t matter where an idea comes from as long as it’s going to make the show better.
MH: Butcher takes a particularly dark turn in the final act of the comics. As we approach the final episode of the series, how would you describe the version of the story you’re telling?
KU:I think the show successfully contextualizes the descent of frustration and desperation that Butcher is feeling. For years, he’s been telling everybody that the sky is falling, that Supes are an existential threat, and nobody listened to him. But now that it’s finally become evident to everybody, they’re really at a point where they’ve exhausted all the other options. Now he has to deal with the moral conflict of whether or not the solution is worse than the problem.
I knew from my very first meetings with Kripke that the trajectory of the character, the process of how he gets where he gets to, was important for the audience to understand. I’ve always seen Butcher’s struggle as the struggle of an individual trying to maintain his humanity in the face of extreme adversity. When you watch episodes 7 into 8, you’ll really see that. You can see that struggle. Butcher has always been a very self-aware character. He’s aware of his faults, and that’s why he has The Boys around—to make sure he doesn’t go off the edge. But he’s getting close to a place where he has nothing to lose. And when a person has nothing else left to lose, they get very dangerous. Episodes 7 and 8 are the sharp end of the stick.
MH:The Boyscan be very dark, but it’s also wild and wacky and strange. Even amid the 16-hour days, are you guys able to let loose and enjoy that aspect of the show?
KU:I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard on any job as I have onThe Boys. Off camera, when we’re waiting for the cameras to roll, that alone has been so much fun. And on the show itself, there have been so many highlights. When you picked up a script for the first time, you never knew what you were going to find. There was always something that would come so out of left field. I mean, driving a speedboat into a whale? Or“Herogasm,”fighting a bunch of superheroes in the midst of the supe orgy? In what other show on the planet would you ever see that? That’s part of the success of the show: It always
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